HRRC Leadership, Fellows & Affiliates

The HRRC is a network of faculty, researchers, students, and staff interested in hazard and disaster issues.

HRRC connects faculty across Texas A&M University who conduct research related to hazards and disasters through our faculty fellow program, with core faculty fellows who dedicate the majority of the research to hazard topics. We also have HRRC faculty and research affiliates across many institutions who support the mission of the center and collaborate with us on various projects. Current Ph.D. and masters students who are working on research grants with HRRC faculty are listed below. Undergraduate research assistants are listed on research projects they worked on. Alumni of the center listed show the great work happening due in part to the centers’ educational programs.

Join the HRRC Family 

If you are interested in becoming a fellow or affiliate with the center, please contact Dr. Michelle Meyer at 979.845.7813 or mmeyer@arch.tamu.edu.

Staff

  • Michelle Annette Meyer
    Director, 2019–resent
    Research Interest: Disaster recovery, environmental justice and equity, volunteering/emergent groups, nonprofit response to disaster, inequality, social capital in disaster, survey research, qualitative research
  • Walter Gillis Peacock
    Senior Fellow, Previous Director
    Research Interest: Sustainability & resiliency issues, hazard mitigation & adaptation, mitigation policy, building codes, housing recovery, long-term disaster recovery, survey research, quantitative methods
  • Shannon Van Zandt
    Senior Fellows
    Research Interest: Coastal resilience, social vulnerability to disasters, low-income housing, environmental equity, housing recovery planning
  • George Rogers
    Senior Fellow, Previous Director
    Research Interest: Sustainability, risk analysis and planning, technology and society, quantitative methods
  • Nathanael Rosenheim
    Director of Research
    Research Interest: Spatial modeling, data science, community development, food system planning
  • Doug Wunneburger
    Mapping Lead
    Research Interest: Social impacts due to interactions of demographics, spatially explicit policies & laws, GIS methods
  • David Bierling
    Director of Transportation
    Research Interest: Hazardous materials transportation analysis, port infrastructure, operations and environmental issues, emergency response equipment test and evaluation
  • John Thomas Cooper Jr.
    Director of Outreach
    Research Interest: Civic engagement, community development, disaster planning/policy 
  • Jaimie Masterson
    Director of Engagement
    Research Interest: Community engagement, plan evaluation, government and public policy, research communication, environmental justice
  • Galen Newman
    Liaison with Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning
    Research Interest: Urban regeneration, land use science, spatial analytics, urban flood resilience 
  • Troy Harden
    Liaison with Race and Ethnic Studies Institute (RESI)
    Research Interest: Exposure to violence and social trauma, race and ethnicity, community justice
  • Deidra Davis
    Director of Equity and Inclusion
    Research Interest: Environmental justice, community engagement, public policy and land use 
  • Seth Jordan
    Program Coordinator
  • J. Carlee Purdum
    Researcher
    Research Interest: Sociology of disaster, environmental sociology, rural sociology, emergency management, social vulnerability, community recovery, incarceration
  • Jeewasmi Thapa
    Engagement Specialist 

Core Faculty

  • John T. Cooper, Jr.
    Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
    Research Interest: Civic engagement, community development, disaster planning/policy 
  • Mark Fossett
    Sociology
    Research Interest: Racial & ethnic relations, social inequality, social demography, urban sociology, statistical methods, quantitative techniques
  • Ivis Garcia
    Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
    Research Interest: community engagement, housing and housing justice, and community development
  • Nasir Gharaibeh
    Civil & Environmental Engineering
    Research Interest: Infrastructure condition assessment and deterioration modeling, participatory methods for infrastructure management, pavement design, preservation & management, infrastructure life-cycle analysis
  • Matthew Malecha
    Department of Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning 
    Research Interest: Community resilience, mitigation planning, environmental planning
  •  Jaimie Masterson
    Texas Target Communities
    Research Interest: Community engagement, plan evaluation, local government and public policy, research communication, environmental justice 
  • Michelle Annette Meyer
    Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
    Research Interest: Disaster recovery, environmental justice and equity, volunteering/emergent groups, nonprofit response to disaster, research methods, social stratification and inequality, social capital in disaster, survey research, qualitative research
  • Galen Newman
    Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
    Research Interest: Urban regeneration, land use science, spatial analytics, urban flood resilience 
  • Walter Gillis Peacock
    Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
    Research Interest: Sustainability & resiliency issues, natural hazards, hazards mitigation & adaptation, mitigation policy, building codes, housing recovery, long-term disaster recovery, survey research, quantitative methods
  • George Rogers
    Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
    Research Interest: Sustainability, risk analysis & planning, technology and society, quantitative methods
  • Nathanael Rosenheim
    Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
    Research Interest: Spatial modeling, data science, community development, food system planning
  • Shannon Van Zandt
    Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
    Research Interest: Coastal resilience, social vulnerability to disasters, low-income housing, environmental equity, housing recovery
  • Douglas Wunneburger
    Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
    Research Interest: Social impacts due to interactions of demographics, spatially explicit policies & laws
  • Xinyue Ye
    Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
    Research Interest: Geographic information system, big data, urban computing, data science 
  • Siyu Yu
    Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning
    Research Interest: Community resilience, plan integration, land use and environmental planning, social vulnerability, hazard mitigation 

Faculty Fellows

Amir Behzadan, Department of Construction Science 

Ann Bowman, The Bush School of Government & Public Service

Heng Cai, Department of Geography

Shankar Chellam, Civil & Environmental Engineering

So-Min Cheong, The Bush School of Government & Public Service

Benika Dixon, Texas A&M Health Science Center

Rebekka Dudensing, Department of Agricultural Economics 

Dan Goldberg, Department of Sociology

Cecilia Giusti, School of Architecture

Youngjib Ham, Department of Construction Science

Troy Harden, Department of Sociology, Director of Race and Ethnic Studies Institute

Maria Koliou, Civil & Environmental Engineering

Dongying Li, Department of Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning

Zenon Medina-Cetina, Civil & Environmental Engineering

Jason Moats, The Bush School of Government & Public Service, TEEX

Ali Mostafavi, Civil & Environmental Engineering

Forster Ndubisi, Department of Landscape Architecture & Urban Planning

Xiaofeng Nie, Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution

Garett Sansom, TAMU Public Health

Douglass Shaw, TAMU Agricultural Economics

Kenneth Taylor,  The Bush School of Government & Public Service

Qingsheng Wang, Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering

Christine Wen, Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning

Zhe Zhang, Department of Geography

Lei Zou, Department of Geography

Directors Emeritus

  • Michael Lindell, Director Emeritus
  • Dennis Wenger, Director Emeritus

Faculty & Research Affiliates

  • Kayode Atoba, TAMU at Galveston, The Center for Texas Beaches & Shores 
  • Phil Berke, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of City and Regional Planning
  • Samuel Brody, TAMU at Galveston, The Center for Texas Beaches & Shores 
  • Noel M. Estwick, Prairie View A&M University, College of Agriculture & Humane Sciences
  • Himanshu Grover, University of Washington, Department of Urban Design & Planning
  • Sara Hamideh, Stony Brook University, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences 
  • Bryce Hannibal , RDC Administrator, Wasatch Front Research Data Center, U.S. Census Bureau 
  • Marccus Hendricks, University of Maryland, College Park, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
  • Wesley E. Highfield, TAMU at Galveston, Department of Marine Science
  • Jen Horney, University of Delaware, Disaster Research Center
  • Shih-Kai (Sky) Huang, Jacksonville State University, Department of Emergency Management
  • Fayola Jacobs, University of Minnesota, Humphrey School of Public Affairs
  • Navid Jafari,  Louisiana State University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering 
  • Laurie Johnson, Consulting & Research
  • Brant Mitchell, Louisiana State University, Stephenson Disaster Management Institute
  • Louis Ngamassi, Prairie View A&M University, MIS
  • Andrew Rumbach, Urban Institute’s Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center
  • Jody Rosenblatt Naderi, Ball State University, Department of Landscape Architecture
  • Lori Peek, University of Colorado Boulder, Department of Sociology 
  • Ronald W. Perry, Arizona State University, School of Public Affairs
  • Steven Quring, The Ohio State University, Department of Geography 
  • Ashley Ross, TAMU-Galveston, Department of Marine Science
  • Jesse Saginor, Florida Atlantic University, School of Urban & Regional Planning
  • Keri Stephens, University of Texas-Austin, Department of Communications Studies
  • Laura Stough, professor emeritus, Texas A&M, Center on Disability and Development
  • Elaina Sutley, University of Kansas, Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering 
  • Courtney Thompson, Gulf Research Program, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
  • Jennifer Tobin, University of Colorado Boulder, Natural Hazards Center
  • Hung Lung Wei, John Jay School of Criminal Justice (NY)
  • Tristan Wu, University of North Texas, Emergency Administration and Planning
  • Sierra Woodruff, Office of Glocal Change, U.S. State Department 
  • Yu Xiao, Portland State University, Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning 
  • Yue Ge, University of Central Florida, Department of Public Administration 
  • Yang Zhang, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of Urban Affairs and Planning

Students

Doctoral Students

Masters Students

  • Wilinia Hamilton, Master of Urban Planning program
  • Adrian Rodriguez, Master of Construction Science program
  • Haley Yelle, Master of Landscape Architecture program

Undergraduate Research Fellows

HRRC undergraduate Research Fellows are students who learn research skills while working with graduate students and faculty on funded research projects. These students then present their research through university and academic conferences.

  • Tyler Eustler, Urban and Regional Planning
  • Jenna Beyer, Environmental Science